Improvement in mail-bag fastenings



, freely.

PATENT FIC JAMES C. FRANKLIN, OF LENA, OREGON.

IMPROVEMENT IN MAIL-BAG. FASTENINGS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 162,8 l2, dated May 4, 1875 application led December 19, 1874.

To all whom it may concern: Beit known that I, JAMES C. FRANKLIN, of Lena, Umatilla county, Oregon, have invented a new and Improved Mail-Bag Fasten-- ing, of which the following is a specification:

In this improved fastening a slotted ap of one side of the bag folds over on hooks projectin g from the other side, and a slotted haspslide, for locking the hooks, folds over onto them from rods below, on which it is pivoted, so as to slide under the hooks after receiving them through the slots, to engagewith the staple in which the lock is secured,4 all as hereinafter particularly described.

Figure l is a side elevation of the top of a bag having my improved fastening. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through Fig. 1, on the line x x; and Fig. 3 is a section on the line y y, Fig. 2.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

A is the front of the bag, along the front of whicha row of metal hooks, B, project, on which the slotted iiap C of the back D of the bag folds, and is fastened by the slotted haspslide E, which slides under the hooks, and e11- gages with the staple F by its hasp G, which is fastened on the staple by a look, in the usual way. Each hook has a metal plate-washer, H, fitted on its shank to rest against the bagfront, and these plates meet and are hinged together at the ends I in a kind of exible metalchain, which allows the bag to bend 0n the inside the shanks ot' the hooks pass through a layer of leather, J, and a short vertical metal washer, K, and are headed down on the latter. These washers are riveted to the layer J, the bag-front, and to the leather strip L each side ofthe chain l ing put on to make the surface ilush with the plates, to form a good rest for'the flap C. This slide consists of a slotted piece of leather, re-enforced between the slots by metal plates a, attached crosswise to the sides, and at one end it has the metal haspplate M connected to it for connecting it to the staple F, the said plate being pivoted to a plate, N, which is riveted to the front side of the leather strip. This haspslide is hinged to the long wire staples P by some of the plates a looped around them, so that it swings over onto the hooks, and at the same time slides forward and backward under them. The strap E may be extended the length of the hasp, and have the hasp riveted to it, if preferred.

It will be seen that this contrivance is cheap, durable, and convenient to manipulate.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to. secure by Letters Patentl. The hasp-slide pivoted on the wire staples l?, in combination with the metal hooks B and the staple F, substantially as specified.

l 2. The washer-plates H, hinged together as described, in combination with the bag-front and the hooks, substantially as specified.

3. The slotted leather strap E, cross-plates a, attaching-plate N, and hasp G', combined andjirranged substantially as specied.

4. The leather strap L, combined with the washer-plates H and the liap C, substantially as specified.

JAMES O. FRANKLIN.

Witnesses:

GEO. A. LA Dow, Lor LIVERMORE. 

